January 1983

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Features

The Large-Scale Cultivation of Mammalian Cells

Novel reactors have been designed for growing in culture large quantities of the fragile, complex cells that synthesize medically important proteins such as interferon and monoclonal antibodies

By Joseph Feder and William R. Tolbert

Machines That Walk

Locomotion on legs resists imitation, but modern control technology should be able to solve the problem. Experiments with machines that hop and crawl can also illuminate the mechanisms of natural walking

By Ivan E. Sutherland and Marc H. Raibert

The Hair Cells of the Inner Ear

They are exquisitely sensitive transducers that in human beings mediate the senses of hearing and balance. A tiny force applied to the top of the cell produces an electrical signal at the bottom

By A. J. Hudspeth

The Physics of Organ Pipes

The majestic sound of a pipe organ is created by the carefully phased interaction of a jet of air blowing across the mouth of each pipe and the column of air resonating inside the pipe

By Neville H. Fletcher and Suszanne Thwaites

The Origin of the Cosmic X-Ray Background

What accounts for the diffuse glow of X-radiation that appears to fill the universe uniformly in all directions? New findings suggest that one source may be a multitude of distant quasars

By Bruce Margon

The Mass Production of Iron Castings in Ancient China

By 500 B. C. the Chinese had developed stack casting: a high technology in which multiple castings are made by pouring iron into multiple molds designed to be stackedone on top of another

By Hua Jue-ming

Departments

50 and 100 Years Ago: January 1983

Science and the Citizen, January 1983

The Footprints of Extinct Animals

NMR Spectroscopy of Living Cells

Letters

Letters to the Editors, January 1983

Recommended

Books, January 1983

Amateur Scientist

The Amateur Scientist, January 1983

Departments

The Authors, January 1983

Metamagical Themas, January 1983

Bibliography, January 1983

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